So Many Book, So Little Time...

National Review Online polls a number of religious writers for book suggestions for Lenten reading. Among the recommenders and recommendations is this:

Fr. Gerald E. Murray: He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J. is one of the most powerful books of the 20th century, yet most people have never heard of it. Originally published in 1973, and currently available in a 1995 Ignatius Press edition, this book is the spiritual testimony of a priest who spent 23 years in Soviet prisons and labor camps. He describes his encounter with God while in the grasp of tyranny in a soul-stirring way. This book will jolt the self-centered and the complacent, which group includes just about every one of us.
— Fr. Gerald E. Murray is pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Manhattan.

I heartily second this recommendation. Fr. Ciszek's story is deeply moving and inspiring - and, appropriately for Lent - made me realize I'm no kind of Christian at all. May God give me a tithe of Fr. Ciszek's faith (but please spare me his pains).

The rest of the NRO symposium's recommendations are here.